Employee Training
by Abagail Snow
Summary: During orientation for a new job, Katniss learns to lighten up with another new hire. (Modern Day, AU)


_Another submission for __**promptsinpanem**__ on tumblr for the deadly sin "pride." _

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"Next we'll be doing a trust exercise," Atla announced. "Everyone grab a partner."

Katniss rolled her eyes and hugged her arms tightly across her body, watching as everyone in the group began to pair off.

Part of the four week orientation program for joining the Panex sales team, was a team building seminar that was beginning to more closely resemble a children's summer camp in its scheduled list of activities. The team of twenty four new hires had already spent two weeks living out of an Extended Stay downtown, and most were sociable enough to have made casual acquaintances with one another, and in some cases, were even friends. Katniss, on the other hand, wasn't very good at making friends.

She sighed as even shy little Rue passed by with a partner, Thresh, in tow.

"Looks like it's just us left," a voice came from beside her. She glanced at him through the corner of her eye, then quickly looked away when she recognized his sloppy blonde curls. "Unless you already have a partner?"

She shook her head wordlessly.

"I'm Peeta by the way," he said extending his hand towards her. She glanced down at it and reluctantly placed her palm against his. "I don't think we've actually talked before. You're Katniss, right?" She nodded, looking down at the name tag pinned to her polo shirt. His eyes followed the path of her gaze and he read it quickly. "D-12, huh? Me too." He pointed at his own name tag. "Looks like we may be working together," he said, his smile so genuine that she forced a half grin to appease him.

"How have you been liking orientation so far?" he continued, despite her best efforts to avoid conversation. "Four weeks seems excessive, and the drive's just long enough that it's pointless to go home on the weekends."

It was true, she lived on the far edge of the Panem market, which had its headquarters in the Capitol. It was a four hour drive to get home, and that wasn't counting the traffic, or the fact that she didn't have a car. After flying into the Capitol for training, on her own dime no less, she'd been essentially stranded, and completely dependent on public transportation.

"The people in the D-1 and D-2 markets don't even technically have to stay in the hotel, they live so close, they're just doing it for the per diem," Peeta went on. "Glimmer's having a party by the way, the blonde," he said and pointed across the crowd towards a vapid looking girl with skin that shimmered just as much as her namesake. "I think everyone's invited. You know, to decompress from all the cabin fever."

Katniss scrunched her nose and shook her head. "I think I'll pass."

"Yeah," he said with an eager nod. "I probably am too. I'm way behind on my Netflix queue anyway."

Atla began distributing thick packets to each group. A few rows of the parking lot had been roped off this afternoon, and gym mats had been placed over the spaces, each with a few buckets of supplies.

"This morning we'll be building bridges," Atla said, and again, Katniss found herself rolling her eyes at the prospect. "One partner will design a bridge using the materials provided. The other partner will build the bridge using the plans. The designer will then have to cross the bridge when the builder has completed it. Successful completion will show one's ability to think creatively, effectively communicate, take direction, and trust others abilities. Keep track of who takes which role, because we'll be swapping for the afternoon session."

Katniss sighed and flipped open the packet. Already she could see between the available materials and the design requirements, that none of the planks were long enough to bridge the gap. The only suitable support to overlap the planks was an exercise ball that was too large to keep the bridge level, so she'd have to compensate someplace else.

Peeta cleared his throat expectantly. "How do you want to divide this up?"

She stared at him blankly for a long moment.

"Do you want me to build it, or…"

Her eyes widened and she looked between him and the packet. Finding the center of balance was critical to the design and not something she could easily dictate on paper. Sure, she'd trust Gale to assemble it correctly, probably with improved modification, but that was only because she knew that Gale's sense for this type of thing was unparalleled. With Peeta, she wasn't sure. She'd rather do it herself.

"I can take care of it," she said with a shrug. "It's not a big deal."

"I don't think it works that way," he said carefully. "You look like you have an idea and you're probably the better person to cross it anyway. I mean look at me." Her eyes followed the path of his hands as they gestured down his body. Broad shoulders, tapered waste, strong arms, she blinked away the distraction. "I wouldn't trust myself foot testing the Cross Capitol Bridge and that was made for tractor trailers."

"It's sort of complicated," she said with a grimace.

He glanced down at the sloppy sketch she'd started on the back of the packet. "Two planks balanced on a bouncy ball, looks simple enough," he said, cracking another one of those grins that made her smile in return in spite of herself.

"There are anchors," she mumbled, pointing at the doorstop wedges she'd added to keep the aerobics ball in place.

"And the anchors. Got it." His smile widened.

Katniss went to get some water with the other designers while the builders assembled the makeshift bridges. Fifteen minutes later, they assembled again by the mats, and each team attempted to cross. The bridge Glimmer had designed collapsed before she'd set her full weight on it, as did many of the other bridges in the competition. Some made it halfway before their bridge had tipped. Only Rue and a fox faced looking girl form D-5 had successfully made it across their bridges.

Katniss's bridge was last, and while the finished product looked mostly right, she was still hesitant about the assembly. She placed her foot on the plastic plank to test its sturdiness before stepping off the platform. The bridge held until the moment she stepped over the aerobics ball. The shift in weight caused it to spin, tipping over the second plank and leaving her running the ball to the second platform like an elephant in a circus show.

The entire group howled with laughter at the spectacle. Even Peeta, whose face was beet red.

"I think I may have forgotten one of the anchors," he said sheepishly between his coughs of laughter.

"No shit," she said, harshly pushing past him and to the edge of the crowd.

"That maneuver you pulled at the end though," he said and his hand gripped around her arm to still her. "That was amazing, I think we still passed."

She scowled at him and ripped her arm away.

Atla announced that they would be breaking for lunch, and while most of the trainees went inside to get food from the company cafeteria, Katniss chose to run back to her hotel where she had some bread and peanut butter waiting.

"Hey, wait," she heard Peeta say as he jogged after her.

"What?" she said, leveling him with a glare that made him stop in his tracks.

"Are you okay? You seem upset."

"I'm fine," she said shortly.

He tucked his hands in the pockets of his khakis and took a tentative step closer. "Is this about the bridge thing?" he said, his smile gentle.

"You were laughing at me."

"It was funny!"

"You were all making fun of me," she said, and suddenly she felt all too vulnerable.

"No one was making fun of you," he said, taking another step towards her. "People laughed when every bridge fell, even you!" She looked down at the sidewalk, and tried to hide her guilty frown. Watching that huge lug Cato try to lumber across his bridge only to fall on his ass had been somewhat satisfying.

"It's okay to laugh at yourself every once in a while," Peeta continued. "You don't have to be so proud. Don't take everything so seriously."

She felt angry at him for judging her. "Thanks for the advice," she said wryly then turned on her heels to stalk down the street.

"Katniss, wait," he called after her. "Come eat with us."

"No thanks."

After lunch, she had calmed a bit from the bridge incident, and while the walk to the hotel had her fuming over every detail of the morning's events, the walk back to Panex was soothing. That was until she remembered she'd have to partner with Peeta again for the afternoon session.

She hesitated at the front entrance and debated whether she could call in sick, or maybe, by luck, someone else would request trading partners.

"You coming Miss Everdeen?" Atla said crossing through a row of parking spaces. She paused next to her at the main entrance and dropped her car keys into her handbag.

Katniss nodded reluctantly.

Atla opened the glass door that led into the lobby and gestured for Katniss to enter. "How are you liking orientation?" she said, following Katniss towards the elevator bank. "You sometimes seem detached and disinterested. I never know how to read you."

"I'm shy, I guess," Katniss said. The elevator doors opened and Katniss stepped inside, tucking herself into the far corner with her arms folded across her chest.

"I was glad that you partnered with Peeta today," Atla said as she punched in the button for the training room floor. "He's very outgoing, I think he could really help break you out of that shell of yours."

Katniss didn't know how to respond. She smiled tightly and nodded, spending the rest of the elevator ride in silence. When they arrived at the training room, Katniss took the vacant seat next to Peeta, although she refused to meet his eye.

Peeta tapped the end of his pen against the table. "I'm sorry if I offended you before," he said.

"It's fine," she said tightly.

Atla handed out another packet to each group. "This afternoon we'll be conducting interviews. Our designers are now our interviewees, and our builders are our interviewers. The interviewer will run through the list of questions with the interviewee, then at the end will give a presentation based on what they learned."

Katniss was relieved that she wouldn't have to give the presentation at the end. She hated public speaking and this task seemed to be much better suited for Peeta. Maybe it would be okay to let him take the lead on this one.

Peeta swung his chair around the table where they were seated so that they were facing one another. He slipped out a case from the pocket of his pants and unfolded a pair of dark framed glasses, which he pushed over the brim of his nose.

"Okay," he said, flipping over the next page of the packet. "Name?" he read off the paper.

Katniss stared at him blankly and he lifted his eyes to meet hers. "Name?" he repeated, an expectant smile slanting his lips.

"Katniss."

"Date of birth?"

"May 8th."

"Where are you from?"

"Seam Hill."

He paused. "Seam Hill, really? I'm from Merchantville, our schools were big rivals."

"I didn't really follow sports," she said with a shrug.

"Oh," he said, pausing for the briefest of moments before picking up the conversation again. "I was mostly into wrestling."

"Really?" Her eyes dipped to his broad shoulders. "Not football?"

He grinned. "Football was in the fall, wrestling in the winter. I only ever name drop wrestling because I was better at it. All state actually."

She nodded then bit her lip. "I ran track," she said. "Track and field, but they dropped most of the field stuff due to budgeting."

"That's what I would have pegged you for," he said. "You practically flew out of the parking lot this afternoon, I could barely keep up."

"I was better at archery," she said. He pressed his pen against the paper and began to jot down some notes, then nodded to encourage for her to continue. "I once split an arrow through the bulls eye."

"What is that?" he asked, lifting a curious brow.

"I could hit the same target twice," she said. She folded her hands on the table and fidgeted nervously with her cuticles.

"Remind me to never get on your bad side," he said, flashing her a grin that made her feel warm inside.

"You already have," she said, surprising even herself at the teasing tone.

Peeta scooped up the row of sharpened pencils that were stacked between them and placed them on the floor. "We'll just leave those down there then."

"Let's see," he said, turning to the next page of the packet. "What brings you to Panex sales team?"

"I used to work in Panex's field operations and maintenance department," she said. She usually didn't like to talk about herself, it felt silly and trite, but Peeta listened with such intense sincerity that she actually wanted to tell him these things. "I'd climb up towers and things for repairs."

"Holy shit, that's crazy," he said, his eyes wide with wonder. "Why would you ever switch to sales? It's so boring."

"Cuts," she said. She was lucky enough to have a supervisor who fought to get her another position, even though she was completely unqualified to work on a sales team. "What about you?"

He lifted his eyebrows. "Oh. I'm in this fast track manager rotation. You start in sales then jump to corporate and sort of work your way up from there."

"CEO in training?"

"I wouldn't mind it," he said with a chuckle. He looked at the next question. "What's your favorite movie?"

"Um…" She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't watch many movies."

"What? You don't have a favorite movie?" he said incredulously, dropping the packet on the table to make a big show of it. "No. That's not right. What have you even been doing for the past two weeks? I've watched this month's HBO rotation a solid 6 times now." And she could only shrug again. "Okay. What do you prefer? Comedies or dramas?" She wasn't sure, she usually watched whatever her sister, Prim had on. "I'm betting drama, but an action-y one," Peeta concluded. "Something where people are mostly quiet and brooding, yet secretly badass. Too bad they haven't given Hawkeye a movie yet…" he sighed, but then his eyes lit up. "Batman. The Dark Knight, that is you."

She narrowed her eyes. "I've never seen it."

He flipped the packet closed and slid it to the side. "We'll fix that," he said.

The presentations began and each partner stood to tiredly recite the answers they'd taken down in a monotonous drone. Once again, Katniss and Peeta were last. When it was his turn, Peeta stood, and without referring to his note, spoke about their interview, including every detail of the conversation. He noted the way her eyes lit up when she told him about archery, how versatile she was because of her past history with the company, and how funny and enjoyable she could be when she was at ease, admitting that he and probably everyone else in the room was probably terrified of her. He then pointed out that she was still human and the only person left on earth who hadn't seen The Dark Knight. Everyone in the room laughed, and for once, Katniss allowed herself to laugh as well.

Maybe Peeta was right, maybe it was all right to make fun of herself every once in a while.

It was Friday night and after training, those who weren't going home for the weekend had migrated over to Glimmer's party. The idea still didn't appeal to Katniss in the slightest, and she was skimming through the frozen meals she had stocked in the freezer as she debated how to waste away another evening.

She was just about to break the seal on her Stouffers meatloaf when an idea struck her. Darting to the bathroom, she plaited her wet hair into a braid, and checked that the tank top and sweatpants she usually slept in weren't too disgusting. Then she slipped on her flip flops and grabbed her hotel key, heading down the row of rooms towards the one she was pretty certain Peeta stayed in.

He answered after a few knocks. His freshly washed hair was clinging to his forehead and the white tee shirt he'd changed into seemed to highlight the broadness of his chest even more if that were possible.

The lenses of his glasses caught the florescent light, obscuring her view of his eyes and masking his reaction.

"You said something about Netflix?" she said.

His mouth opened then closed, a smile tilting his lips. "Um, yeah. I'm halfway through an episode of Breaking Bad, but we can put on a movie." He stepped aside to allow her through the doorway.

"The Dark Knight?"

"I don't think that's on Instant Watch," he said. "I think they just added The Avengers," but then he grimaced. "It's sort of hard to follow though, unless you've seen some of the other movies."

She crossed the hotel room and sat on the small loveseat across from the bed, kicking off her flip flops and tucking her knees against her chest. "Then we can watch those first," she said. "After we order pizza."

"That was implied, of course," he said, a nervous edge to his voice. He stood awkwardly in the doorway, his fingers fidgeting with the drawstring of his gym shorts. "It's — uh, a date then?"

She felt her cheeks flush and she hugged her knees tightly. An excited buzz quivered in her chest at the question, extending all the way to the tips of her fingers.

"Sure," she said shyly.

Peeta exhaled loudly, his sparkling grin planting across his face for the rest of the night. After he ordered the pizza, he sat down beside her, his body so close she could feel the heat he radiated. It was so distracting, she could barely pay attention as he lifted the remote and started the show.


End file.
